Purdue 81 IU 68

I just don't understand how their can be a 38 point difference based on where they are playing the game. You get beat by double-digits by a team that you just beat by 25 points a few weeks ago. I just don't understand it. One thing is for sure -- the Hoosiers better figure out a way to play better on the road. This is now back to back games where they have given up 81 points -- ouch! And if they don't find a way to play better on the road, then they damn well better keep their perfect record at home and we will have to keep our fingers crossed for how they fair at neutral sites. Of course, Teague was absolutely on fire and it is definitely tough to win any time someone catches fire like that. But the point is that IU needed to make it tougher on him. Even after he got hot, he was still getting open looks. It wasn't like he was hitting incredibly tough shots, he was just getting open and knocking them down. When a player gets hot like that, you have to do everything possible to shut him down and make the other players beat you. Switch everything if you have to, just don't let him get open. Landry also had a good game. I thought D.J. and Landry were a wash in the 1st half, but Landry had the edge in the 2nd half. For a while, I thought D.J. was just playing bad defense (and maybe he was), but then 40-Cent came in the game for a couple minutes and Landry made him look foolish on 3 straight possessions, so I eased my stance on D.J.'s defense. The D.J./Landry match-up was simply two very good players going at it -- both were definitely better on the offensive end though. The point is that Landry is very good and is likely going to get his points. It was letting Teague go off that absolutely killed the Hoosiers. By the way, Painter is (and always will be) a total tool. He is an absolute toolbox. I think he is inbred. Hey, nobody ever said that I take losing well. But that is beside the point, he really does look like he is inbred. And I am not talking cousin/cousin inbreeding or half-brother/half-sister inbreeding. Nope, he appears to be straight-up brother/sister inbred. Yep, he refers to his parents as Uncle Daddy and Aunt Mommy. On IU's side of the ball, D.J. was great in the first half but didn't do much in the 2nd half. Bassett and Wilmont were very aggressive driving the ball, but they were really struggling to finish. Several times, it seemed they would get through the teeth of the defense with some nice moves and find themselves at the rim for an easy layup, but then they would miss the easy part. I still liked the aggressiveness though. Bassett pretty much took control of the IU offense in the 2nd half and made some great plays to get IU a brief lead. But then IU turned it over on back-to-back possessions, followed quickly by a Landry 3-point play and a Teague 3-pointer which led to a 15-4 Purdue run and the game was pretty much over at that point. As bad as Stemler (aka Casper) has been playing, they certainly missed him tonight. Apparently he has a sprained ankle, which likely means he will miss the Michigan game as well since it is only about a day away. 40-Cent and Zeke were both atrocious tonight and it appears Sampson has completely given up on Bendeman (rightfully so). The only other option was the 4-guard line-up. I'm now easing on the Stemler criticism because it would have been nice to see him in there tonight -- he definitely can add some value even when his jumper is off. It's just frustrating to see a clean-cut white kid square up to the basket, follow-through, and miss by 3 feet. Clean-cut white kids are supposed to shoot 70% from the arc. Anyway, hopefully he heals up and plays well in the stretch run. Other injury news -- Calloway hurt his shoulder tonight -- no idea how serious it is. Damn! It has been over an hour since the game ended and my head is still red hot. It is literally hot to the touch. I try not to have outbursts with the kids around, but when I hold it all inside, it makes my brain juice boil. I hate losing. Painter's chubby inbred face makes me sick. I'd rather be forced to look at Gene Keady's hideous wife (who by the way is really Gene's twin brother with a sex change). Well, the Hoosiers haven't lost two in a row all year. They have a tough task ahead of them to keep it that way. Now they just have a little over a day before they play at Michigan and they may be short-handed. It's time to dig deep and find a way to win and I think it needs to be one of those ugly wins. Again, they've given up 81 points in each of their last two road games. That just can't happen. Even giving up 70 points is too many to win on the road. I think they need to force an ugly game in the low 60s to come out with a win. Another loss could be a big blow. Suddenly, they would be right back with the middle of the pack and a lot of those other teams have more overall wins. IU would still be at the top of the middle-pack and still have a great RPI, but it would still make me a little nervous. I felt strongly about my 62-60 prediction for an IU win. I am hoping that I just had the wrong game, so here we go with the prediction for the Michigan game: IU 62 Michigan 60 Go Hoosiers! (please!) ************************************************************************************ Pre-game Comments: I can't say that I have a whole lot of confidence in the Hoosiers on the road. However, this is a team that we absolutely demolished at Assembly Hall. I think it will be much tougher in this go-around, but I am still predicting that IU will prevail in a tight one. IU 62 Purdue 60 Final Poll Results 12 out of 17 voters predict an IU victory. In addition, 12 out of 17 voters predict a 5-point game or less. Final votes: 2 votes for win by 15-plus 3 votes for win by 6-14 7 votes for win by 5 or less 5 votes for lose by 5 or less Who should be getting the minutes at the 4-spot? 10 votes went to "40 cent". Apparently, Hoosier fans like to have another banger in there to mix things up. 2 votes went to Stemler 2 votes went to Wilmont and a 4-guard line-up 1 vote for Zeke As far the question on a nickname for Stemler....I really hopes he starts playing well and we can come up with a more honorable nickname. This nickname question only came about because he has been playing at such low level. Anyway, here were the results: 6 - Casper 3 - Captain Albino 2 - Landeman 2 - Stemleman 1 - Stemleville When he was playing well, Ben referred to him as Stiffler. I like that nickname best, but this nickname had to include the Mandeman/Lindeville type options.